A prison inmate running against Barack Obama in the West Virginia Democratic party primary could have taken as many as four delegates from the US president at his re-nomination convention.

Keith Judd is serving time at the Beaumont federal jail in Texas for making threats at the University of New Mexico in 1999. With 93% of precincts reporting on Tuesday, Obama was receiving just under 60% of the vote to Judd's 40%.

Attracting at least 15% of the vote would normally qualify a candidate for a delegate to the Democratic national convention this September in Charlotte, North Carolina. Judd is expected to win four delegates on current polling.

For some West Virginia Democrats, simply running against Obama was enough to get Judd votes. "I voted against Obama," said Ronnie Brown, a 43-year-old electrician from Cross Lanes who called himself a conservative Democrat. "I don't like him. He didn't carry the state before and I'm not going to let him carry it again."

When asked which presidential candidate he voted for, Brown said: "That guy out of Texas."

Judd was able to get on the state ballot by paying a $2,500 (£1,500) fee and filing a form known as a notarised certification of announcement, said Jake Glance, a spokesman for the secretary of state's office.

The state Democratic party executive director, Derek Scarbro, said no one had filed to be a delegate for Judd. The state party also believed Judd had failed to file paperwork required of presidential candidates but officials were still researching the matter, Scarbro said.

"Keith Judd's performance is embarrassing for Obama and our great state," the outgoing West Virginia Republican chairman Mike Stuart said.

Voters in other conservative states have shown their displeasure with Obama in Democratic primaries. In Oklahoma, anti-abortion protester Randall Terry got 18% of the primary vote. A lawyer from Tennessee, John Wolfe, pulled nearly 18,000 votes in the Louisiana primary. In Alabama, 18% of Democratic voters chose "uncommitted" in the primary rather than vote for Obama. And in Tuesday's North Carolina primary, 21% of Democratic voters marked "no preference".

Obama's energy policies and the Environmental Protection Agency's handling of mining-related permits have incurred the wrath of West Virginia's coal industry. Its governor and a senator, Earl Ray Tomblin and Joe Manchin, both Democrats, have declined to say whether they will support Obama in the November election.

The presumed Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, won West Virginia's GOP primary Tuesday with more than 69% of the vote, with 93% of precincts reporting. Rick Santorum followed with 12%, while Ron Paul had 11%.

Gay rights laws in America have evolved to allow — but in some cases ban — rights for gay, lesbian and transgender people on a range of issues, including marriage, hospital visitation, adoption, housing, employment and school bullying. The handling of gay rights issues vary by state and follow trends by region.